MINUTES OF NATIONAL PARKS UK NPUK EXECUTIVE MEETING HELD AT SOUTH DOWNS CENTRE ON WEDNESDAY, 25TH OCTOBER, 2017

PRESENT: Mrs Lesley Roberts (Chairman) – (Peak District) Mr Tegryn Jones (Lead Officer) – (Pembrokeshire Coast) Dr John Packman (Broads Authority) Prof Jacqui Burgess (Broads Authority) Mr Grant Moir (Cairngorms) Mr Peter Argyle (Cairngorms) Mr Bill Hitchins (Dartmoor) Mr Andy Wilson (North York Moors) Mr Jim Bailey (North York Moors) Mr Trevor Beattie (South Downs) Mrs Margaret Paren (South Downs) Ms Naomi Conway (NPP) Dr Steve Curl (NPP) Ms Melanie Doel (BBNPA) Ms Kathryn Cook (NPUK) Mr Emyr Williams (Snowdonia) Mr Owain Wyn (Snowdonia) Mr Mr Robin Milton (Exmoor) Mr Richard Leafe (Lake District) Mr Mike Mckinley (Lake District) Mr Gordon Watson (Loch Lomond and the Trossachs) Major James Stuart (Loch Lomond and the Trossachs) Mr Oliver Crosthwaite-Eyre (New Forest) Mr David Chapman (Peak District) Mrs Gwyneth Hayward (Pembrokeshire Coast) Mr David Butterworth (Yorkshire Dales) Mr Carl Lis (Yorkshire Dales) Mrs Jean Davidson (Northumberland) Mr Paul Hamblin (NPE)

In Attendance Angharad Hawkes (Minute Taker - BBNPA/NPUK) Fiona Gough (Observer – Northumberland) 1 **Elections**

Kathryn Cook, Director of NPUK thanked the outgoing Chairman, Prof Jacquie Burgess and informed Directors and CEO’s that there had only been 1 nomination for Chairman and that was Mrs Lesley Roberts.

Mrs Melanie Doel expressed her thanks to Prof Jacquie Burgess for all the help and support that had been given to her and other members of NPUK.

2 **NPUK Chair and Deputy Chairs for 2017/18 term**

Resolved: That Mrs Lesley Roberts (Peak District) takes over the role of NPUK Chairman.

Resolved: That Mr Owain Wyn (Snowdonia) will take over the Deputy Chair role from Mrs Melanie Doel (Brecon).

Resolved: That Mr Peter Argyle continues as Deputy Chair of NPUK.

3 **Ratification of Lead Officer for 1st of 2 year term**

EW informed Directors and CEO’s that the next Lead Officer should be KB (Dartmoor) followed by TJ (Pembrokeshire Coast) but due to a clash with the Welsh Secretariat and the NPUK Lead Officer role it was suggested that TJ and KB’s terms should be swapped to allow TJ to be lead officer from 2018.

It was AGREED that TJ would take on the role of Lead Officer when EW steps down subject to agreement of KB.

4 **Introductions and Apologies for Absence**

Major James Stewart was welcomed to his first meeting as the new Convenor for LLTT.

Apologies were received from;

Kevin Bishop – CEO Dartmoor John Cook – CEO Brecon Beacons; Sarah Bryan – Exmoor; Sarah Fowler Peak District; Alison Barnes – CEO New Forest; Glen Sanderson – Chair Northumberland; Tony Gates – CEO Northumberland 5 **NPUK Executive AGM June 2016**

RESOLVED: That the minutes of the last National Parks UK AGM Meeting held on 9 June 2016 are noted.

6 **NPUK Executive February 2017**

It was noted that Mrs Jean Davidson was listed as Chairman instead of Deputy Chairman and that Mr Glen Sanderson’s apologies were not noted.

RESOLVED: That the minutes of the last National Parks UK Executive Meeting held on 8th February 2017 are approved.

7 **NPUK Annual Report 2016/17 (for noting)**

KC presented the Annual Report for 16/17 and highlighted the achievements in spite it being a particularly challenging year – which included the NPUK headcount reducing from 3 members of staff to 1 member of staff; the office relocation to the Brecon Beacons offices and the establishment of an SLA with Brecon Beacons for IT; HR; Finance and Secretariat services.

RESOLVED: Chairs are asked to note the contents of the report

8 **Year End Accounts**

KC presented a report that was prepared by Mrs Elaine Standen (Finance Manager & Section 151 Officer, Brecon Beacons). The purpose of the report was to provide a brief commentary on the 2016/17 End of year Accounts and present for approval and to provide an updated forecast against the 2017/18 budget.

9 **NPUK End of Year Accounts (2016/17) for approval**

KC highlighted that there had been a positive end of year outturn with a small surplus being achieved without the requirement for £8,000 to be taken from reserves as originally budgeted. It was noted that the National Awareness Survey budget and Mission Explore reserve both carried forward to 2017/18 were also included.

JS informed KC that any directors that have resigned should be placed in brackets.

OW queried why his name was listed as a Director from 31st March 2017 when he started his term after that date. **Action:** KC to contact the accountants to raise OW’s and JS’s comments.

**RESOLVED:** The National Parks UK End of Year Accounts were approved.

10 **Portal End of Year Accounts (2016/17)**

KC highlighted that there was a £10,982 deficit and asked Directors to note that some of this would be covered by the GIS reserve fund.

RM questioned why not all National Park Authorities were paying the same portal subscription fees.

JP explained that different Authorities have different levels of service agreement because of the way the portal is structured and not all Authorities have the complete portal package. JP suggested a discussion was needed to ensure similar software packages were being used moving forward.

**RESOLVED:** The National Parks Portal End of Year Accounts were approved.

11 **2017/18 and indicative 2018/19 spreadsheet - for noting**

KC asked Directors and CEO’s to note that the forecasted deficit for 2017/18 is £31,790 and that it includes monies from reserves that have already been approved (Phase 2 Shared Services and National Awareness Survey).

It was noted that £12,000 had been absorbed for the JNPOG facilitation agreed by the CEOs which had not originally been budgeted for.

The Chairman questioned why the Communications post was budgeted for more than the agreed one year.

KC explained that Mrs Elaine Standen had advised to budget for the post in the event that the post is extended and that in any case the fixed one year term spans 2 financial years.

**Meeting Part Two: General Executive Meeting Business**

12 **Declarations of Interest**

1. Ms Kathryn Cook declared a personal interest in item7 – ways of working paper for discussion.
2. Mrs Melanie Doel declared a personal interest in item9 – Working Together – Phase One Report.

13 **Ways of Working Paper for discussion (Emyr Williams)**

KC, PH and NC left the room for item7. The Chairman informed the Exec that Mr Steve Curl (NPP) had requested to speak to the Exec to ask for permission to stay in the meeting for item 7 and to contribute to the discussion.

The Chairman instructed the Exec to take a vote on whether or not SC should stay in the meeting for item 7.

GM asked for clarity on why SC was being asked to leave the meeting and JS asked what advantage there would be in SC leaving the room.

SC stressed that NPP has got a lot to contribute to how NPUK moves forward as 15 Authorities.

CL reminded the Exec that CNP and other organisations used to attend the Exec meetings and it was agreed that it would be stopped as their presence inhibited discussion.

JS expressed that NPP is a subset and needs to act in the context of NPUK and it would be beneficial to have more rather than less people in the room.

The Chairman took a vote and it was agreed (8/4) that SC would remain in the room for the discussion.

EW informed Directors and Officers that CEO’s had met for facilitated sessions to look at ways of working as NPUK and to create better collaborative working between CEO’s and Directors.

JB expressed her thanks for the report and stressed that decisions needed to be made in a timely manner so that the issue doesn’t get unnecessarily prolonged.

RM commented that collaboration for the sake of it is pointless if there is no direction.

EW explained that the steer isn’t in the report as it us up to the Directors to decide which direction they would like to take.

EW informed the Directors that the CEO’s had created a list of models of direction that can be worked on and reported back to Directors.

JB (NYM) suggested using NPUK as more of a celebratory role as Governance at a UK level hasn’t worked well.

JP stressed that the present structure is getting in the way of working together and there needs to be a more flexible and effective way of working.

JS agreed that there needs to be agility.

Directors stressed that proposals need to be taken to the February Exec meeting in York. MD reminded CEO’s that thought needed to be given to member induction courses which are invaluable and any other member needs would need to be identified and that any staffing decisions need to be handled with sensitivity.

It was agreed that EW would email 15 CEO’s and Directors to ask what they want from collaboration and NPUK. Action: EW.

It was agreed that a transition is needed and that a detailed proposal is to be taken to the February Exec meeting in York.

14 NPUK Governance Matters - for approval (Emry Williams)

EW informed Directors and CEO’s that there had been inconsistencies with the NPUK Standing Orders and Terms of Reference and that the purpose of the report is to consider and adopt revisions to the adopted Standing Orders, revisions to the draft Terms of Reference of the Finance and General Purposes Committee and adopt Terms of Reference for the Finance and General Purposes Committee and to adopt protocol for agenda and meeting management.

MD expressed her thanks to EW.

RESOLVED: Directors to note the report and approve proposals as noted in the paper.

15 Working Together - Phase One Report (Trevor Beattie)

MD declared a personal interest on item7.

TB reminded Director’s and CEO’s that at last year’s AGM it was revealed that there was potential of working together and £45,000 was identified for the project with £23,400 being earmarked for phase1 and £21,600 for phase2 if it is agreed to move forward with the project.

TB informed Director’s and CEO’s that insurance was procured & tendered by 8 NPA’s with 6 moving forward with the procurement and 2 deciding not to go ahead and that the 6 NPA’s identified savings.

Director’s and CEO’s reviewed the areas identified for further discussion and agreed to add 3 medium options which were to be Sourcing employee benefits at a National level, joint working on apprenticeships and joint procurement of specialist legal advice.

BH questioned the level of savings that could be made and if it would have an effect on reserves. TB explained that financial savings would not be great although there would be a saving in staff time and there would be an increase in quality and scope.

Resolved:

1. Agree in principle on Phase 2 including expenditure already identified in the 2017/18 budget
2. Agree that delivery of phase 2 be delegated to Trevor Beattie and the Working Together sub group

16 Growing Income Sub-Group (Sarah Fowler)

The Chairman presented the report on behalf of Sarah Fowler.

TJ informed Director’s and CEO’s that the Growing Income Sub-Group has a view of moving towards establishing a charity and that an indication of support for this direction of travel would be useful.

It was suggested that if a charity is set up then any funds gained could be directed to the charities that have already been set up by many NPA’s.

There was concern that central government could reduce funding for NPA’s if a charity was set up to secure funding.

JS expressed that a charity could be a complimentary tool that would move towards giving additional agility and function which would allow NPUK to get on the front foot of commercialisation.

There was concern that the paper presented had a lack of substance and it was not clear where the funding would go, if it would be dispersed 15 ways or into particular projects.

SC stressed that NPUK is a well-received brand and that NPP just need a vehicle to receive additional funds that are currently unavailable to NPP/NPUK.

There was concern that supporting a charity can require a great deal of input and resource.

TB commented that more information was needed and that he would like to see the following areas answered and reported back to the February Exec meeting.

1. Scope needs to be looked at and discussed and reported back.
2. Independence of the charity
3. Distribution of the funds
4. Support of the charity
5. And that an ethical policy is needed to be discussed and created.

JB agreed with TB’s comments and suggestions and stressed that a timescale was needed.

OCE commented that NPUK shouldn’t be missing out on opportunities because the vehicle for charitable funding isn’t there and that charities can be low profile and low key.

SC informed the Exec that if there is an agreement at the February Exec meeting then NPP could set up a charity independently from the National Park Authority’s and NPP. DB felt that timing could be an issue if there is another paper to be presented at the February Exec meeting due to some NPA’s needing to take the decision and further information to their boards.

EW proposed an additional recommendation to ask all Chair’s to seek approval from their individual NPA boards to empower the Chair’s/Directors to make a decision on whether or not to sign up to creating an NPUK charity without having to further consult with their boards. **Agreed**

**RESOLVED:**

1. For further investigation to be carried out and a final report to be taken to the February Exec meeting.

Chair’s to seek approval from their individual NPA boards to empower the Chair’s/Directors to make a decision on whether or not to sign up to creating a NPUK charity without having to consult with their boards.

**17 EUROPARC (David Butterworth)**

CEO’s and Directors were informed that the 2018 Europarc Conference would be held in the Cairngorms NPA.

**RESOLVED:**

That Directors note the report.

**18 NPUK Work Programme 2017/18 - Update for noting**

KC presented the 2017/18 work programme and explained that the direction of travel on comms had changed. Rosie Hancock-Pook has been appointed as NPUK Communications and marketing manager and has been visiting as many National Parks as possible and taking note of feedback which will feed into a strategic plan to be presented at the Heads of Communications summit in Northumberland on 7th and 8th November.

KC thanked the Lake District National Park for hosting the member induction course and reminded Director’s and CEO’s that the next member induction will be held at the Broads National Park 13-15 March 2018.

KC highlighted that she and Rosie had been working with the Columbia team to produce 6 consecutive double page spreads in the weekend supplement of the Guardian.

**Action:** KC to circulate PDF of the articles.

**19 National Parks England**

**Resolved:**

That the NPE update report is noted. 20 National Parks Scotland

Resolved: That the NPS update report is noted.

21 National Parks Wales

Director's and CEO's were informed that there would be 5% budget cuts to next year's budget.

Resolved: That the NPW update report is noted.

22 All Party Parliamentary Group on National Parks - for noting

Resolved: Director's and CEO's noted the report.

23 Any Other Business (at the discretion of the Chairman)

LR informed Director's and CEO's that the Peak District had won an award from CNP.

EW informed Director's and CEO's that the Great British Menu are interested in commissioning their 2019 series based on National Parks.

24 NPUK Events/Meetings Timetable - for information

KC explained that the meetings dates are currently in draft format due to there being a new Chairman of NPUK.

Action: KC to circulate dates once the Chairman has confirmed her diary.

Signed as a correct record Chairman of the NPUK Executive Meeting